Creeping Marble

The Mughals mostly constructed in red stone. But when Shah Jahan came along in the 17th century, he shifted to white marble. It changed architecture in the Indian subcontinent forever. But in his later years, the emperor became a captive in one of his own creations. Prabha uses a traditional Rajasthani doorway on a rusty red facade where the white is creeping up, like a poor man’s marble. The artist’s trademark of asymmetric threshold is there. As is the feeling that this painting is a surface that sits on top of another.

PRABHA SHAH

Prabha Shah is one of the modern Indian painters, who continues to follow her chosen muse for decades with sustained determination. Her loss has been offset by the increase in her power of imagination. The state of Rajasthan is particularly rich in the artistic heritage of castles, churches, and other sanctuaries. Moreover, it has a long-standing tradition of art and sculpture. All this promotes the modern artist’s sensibility and fills her pictures with the spirit of a place. Prabha doesn’t feel displaced or excluded as many contemporary artists. Moreover, she has adapted to the modern culture, which is proven by her paintings, although, she doesn’t forget about old traditions.

Shah’s paintings are her way of expressing herself. Her talent is that she sees all the strengths and weaknesses of her environment. As you can see in her painting, she equally perceives people and objects. The things created by her imagination are subject to the laws of dynamic form. Her paintings always represent a balance between the reality and imagination. The painter is not restricted to any obligations but efficiently combines them in such a way that even changing the appearances she remains faithful to the reality.

She avoids any meaningless abstraction or uses it only to reveal the nature of real things and make them more memorable. In short, Shah, who started from the idiom of Rajasthani miniature picture, has re-imposed that method or memory through compositions of common planes and long lines to open up new vistas, as that of receding mirrors.